Kyiv Rocked by Explosions as Russia Steps Up Attacks

Russia hit targets in Kyiv on Friday as its forces threatened to escalate attacks on Ukrainian command centers in response to alleged strikes inside Russian territory, with both sides gearing up for a new stage in the ground war in the country’s east.

As Moscow stepped up pressure on Ukraine’s capital, the fate of Mariupol in the country’s southeast hung in the balance, with Russian forces pressing their campaign to take control of the strategic port city that serves as a potential link between Russia’s mainland and the Crimean Peninsula it seized from Ukraine in 2014.